Vedaranyeswarar Temple

The Vedaranyeswarar Temple in the town of Vedaranyam, once called Tirumaraikadu, is a Shiva temple whose name records the legend that the Vedas themselves worshipped Shiva here and then locked its gates. The best-known story says the saints Appar and Sambandar found the doors shut; Appar sang and they opened, and Sambandar's hymn closed them again. The temple is the only one mentioned in all seven Thirumurais. Its 88 inscriptions, copied in 1904, record grants under Chola kings from Aditya Chola to Kulothunga Chola I.

The complex has three enclosures and two five-tiered gateway towers, to the east and west, with the Manikarnika tank inside the western entrance. Alongside the granite lingam of Vedaranyeswarar, the temple keeps an emerald lingam known as the Maragatha lingam, images of the 63 Nayanars, and an unusual set of Navagrahas arranged in a row. It is also one of the seven Saptha Vidangam temples linked with Tiruvarur, and Rama's footprints are preserved nearby at Ramar Padam.